Method and apparatus for shelling nuts.



F. 8'. -SPITZ.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHELLINIG NUTS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. I0. 1918.

Patented Aug. 6, 1918.

FANNIE SCHUTZ srrrz, or ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHELLING NUTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 6, 1918.

' Application filed January 10,1913. Serial no.21 1,149. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FANNIE SoHU'rz 812112, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Albuquerque,

ments in Methods and Apparatus for Shelling Nuts, of which the following is a full and clear specification.

The object of my invention 1s to provide a means for cracking nuts which have 1rregular shapes and whose shells are thin but flexible and tough. I desire particularly to crack the nut known as the ,New Mexlcan pinon nut. I

The meat of these'nuts is tender, whlle the shells are somewhat fiexible'and at the same time tough and fit practically tight around the meat, leaving only a minute space between thetwo. Thus it will be'seen that the problem of successfully'shelling these nuts."

without crushing or tearing apart the meat is a difiicult one. Prior to this lnventlon, 1t was considered impossible of solutlon, having baffled experts in the nut-shelling art; One of the main difficulties prominent in the.

shelling of pinon nuts was the close proximity of the shell to the meat, thereby making the ordinary cracking members of nut-shelling machines in use impracticable" for shelling these nuts.

Another difficulty to be met was the extreme toughness of the shell, which precluded the use of crackers which could be used for nuts whose shells are brittle. Still another problem to be met was the multi plicity of size'and shapes, even extreme care in grading failing to successfully, grade the nuts with respect to their shape and consequently their size, as in most cases measurements of the diameter of the nut along different points thereon would give as many different ments.

Hence it will be seen that in order to successfully shell nuts of this character, something more than a mere nut-cracking maohine was neces'sary',,and a machine to efliciently shell these nuts' must overcome the above-mentioned difficulties. L f j In the description annexed hereto, the members used to shell the nuts are termed cracking members for the want of a better general term, but the action resulting from county of. Bernalillo, State of New Mexico, have,1n. vented certain new and useful Improvereadings as there ,were measure,

the use of these shelling members is one of a ripper rather than a cracker. or crusher."

It has been discovered that, by forming the teeth or tearing members with an abrupt face provided with a curved cutting or knife-like edge and allowing the. nuts to pass between these abrupt faces, theteeth' passing one another at agreat speed, the shell is ripped and the meat allowed to, fall away'fromthe shell. I

It has also been discovered that," inorder to efficiently remove the shell without injur ing the meat, the length of theteeth must be the same as, or slightly less'than, the combined thickness of between the shell and tlie meat. By thus limiting the length of the teeth to such a degree, the teeth rip the shell loose and themeats are allowed to pass through the space between the outer edges of the teeth and are, discharged at the lower end of the cracking members unharmed. I I have shown the. cracklng or ripping members in the ace ompanying drawings as located in the lowerend of a shell or hop? per, one of the members being intheform of an annular sleeve secured to the inner face of the ner face. The other cracking member is secured to the lower end of a centralcone and forms a continuation: thereof and has corresponding' teeth on its outer face to cooperate with the above-mentioned teethof the other cracking member.

In the drawings.

shell;

" Fig. 2 is a fragmentarydetail view the In the drawings, thefnumeral. l iindicates the cone-shapedzhopper or, shell which may be'pr'ovided with'vertically-disposed ribs 2;

for assisting. in directing the nuts to the cracking members located at the lowerpart Fastened at-the' lower or disof the shell.-

charg e' end of ing member 3 with cracking the shell; is; an annular crack provided uponits inner face elements or teeth C.

, Centrally-mounted withinthe shell 1 and adapted to revolve th erein is an upright the shell'and the distance shell and having the teeth on its in-' Figure is a vertical section through the conical member 4. The cone l may be provided with suitable spiralribs 5'O11 tl1G-GX- to cooperate with terior of its upper portion direct the nuts to the ribs 2 of thezshell to the cracking members.

AfiiXed to the surface ==ofthe cone atthe lower end thereof is a second cracking membe'rjfi: cooperatingzwiththe previously-men endiof the cone and bearing upon the top end of theshaft .7. -The cone isprevented fromrotatingion the. shaft by means of a pin 9 passing through thes'haft 7 andworke ing, in ,slots 10 disposed longitudinally in thekcone.

V The rasp-like .teeth or cracking elements- Gland, D are. similarin structure. and a de.. tailed explanation of one will suflice. These teeth are shown more .in detail ,in Fig. .3 andhave an,.-abrupt face 11,.f0rming a circular cutting edge 12 and terminate in an inclined face 1.3. It .will benotedthat the.

cracking member. 6. have teethupon. the:

direction op.-

their; abrupt faces facing in a posite to those upon the member 3, and,.by.

thus oppositely. disposing the abrupt faces of. the teeth andlrevolvingv, the cone in the direction indicated by the arrow, the abrupt facesof thejteeth upon, the cracking member. 6. are brought to coiiperatewith the similar.

abrupt faces. of theteeth uponthe cracking member 3 and the knife-like edges 12 of the teeth brought into play. v. p

The teeth uponthe cracking members 3 andf6 are in staggered relation with respect to themselves andtto one another... The operation and method of shelling the nuts are as follows: 7V Thernuts are fed into-the top ,of the, shell or hopper 1 and from there pass between the two shelling membersfi and; 6. The cone 1 is rotated at a high velocity in the direction indicated by the arrow, and, as the nuts passbetween the members 3 and 6,. the abrupt faces 11and thecutting edges 12 are brought to bear upon the shells ,of the nuts, as indicated in Fig. 2 inatheldra-wings; .Theaction resulting is that of a rip.-

ping or cutting of the shells, the teeth be.

ing of a length suflicient only to puncture and rip the shells and leave .the meat untouched. As, the shells are ripped .or torn apart, the, meats slip from withiirthem and pass down through thecracking members and are discharged at the lower end thereof. a It should benoted that, owing to the staggered relationof the jtee'th on they cracking members 3 and 6 and also the staggered relation ofthe teeth on these members with respectto one another,--twoteeth-are not brought to act on the shell at diametrically opposite points. a This is of extreme importance in that a more efficient ripping action will take place when the teeth act at diflerent points on the shell. It will be seen-that'the nuts will be carried around be-v tween the cracking members, due to the velocity at which the cone is rotating; also that the nuts will,in manycases, make, sev-. eral complete. .trips around between the cracking members before they travel the whole vertical width of the cracking mem-.

bers and are-discharged at the lower .end. Itv is. obvious, therefore, that, should the shells'beonly partially ripped at the. out setoof their downward, travel, they invariably undergo additional ripping,.actio1'1s during their downward travel b'etweenrthe cracking members, and, uponwthe comple-.. tion of their downward .travehthezshells will be completely: ripped to thus allow the meats .to drop therefrom. .ln-most cases, the shells are ripped entirely from the meats. during .the first part .of the travel. of the nuts. between, the cracking., members. As soon as the shells are ripped sufliciently to. allow, the .meats to droptherefrom, the meats will pass .between the teethandlbe discharged at thelower; end of the crack; ingmembers without any further action of the teeth upon them. w From the foregoing, it .willbeseenthat Ihave provided a type of shelling members: which will compensatefor. the, irregularity inshape of the productto be shelled and. also allow for the extreme toughness of the: shellsandrip the same rather than crack or crush;.them. I The cracking member .3..may.,be. rigidly supported or supported inrany. suitable mannerandrl have. here shown itasresiliently mounted soas tov have awslight yielding movement :radially,xso that ,the space be-. tween. the crackingmembers ,may. be. made .to, accommodate itself to the multnshaped nuts. This slight yieldingimovement may be ac,-.- complished ,in. various .waya and IVhavYe shown several preferred embodiments; ,In' Fig. 1 av serpentine. spring circumferen tially surrounds the cracking. ,member. 6, The. crackingmember 3 isprovidedwith lugs 15 sliding in slots 16 to prevent rotation ofthesamabut to allow the radially yie1ding movement. 7 In Figs, I have shown a modified form of spring: I-Iere aqspir'al spring 3'. .'is, disposed.verticallvand.held in position by means of a circumferential wire; 41? These springs may be disposed, atdifierent points ground the periphery of the cracking memer,3. .1. In Fig; 5, I. have; shown, still aiiotlienforin of spring. Thisspring is in the form of a split tube 3 vertically disposed and held in position by means of a wire 4. The springs may also be placed at dififerent points around the periphery of the cracking member 3.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the outer cracking member is so mounted as to be capable of yielding slightly in any direction.

The nature and scope of the invention having been thus indicated and its preferred embodiment having been specifically de-.

scribed, what is claimed as new is:

1. In an apparatus for shelling nuts of the character set forth, the combination of a pair of shelling members arranged one within the other, and means for rotating the one member with respect to the other, the inner member having an exterior conical shape and the other member having its interior similarly shaped, the two members being spaced apart to form an annular chamber between them, the opposing faces of these members being each provided with a multiplicity of semi-cone shape cutting teeth extending into the chamber a distance sufficient to out only through the shells of the nuts, the teeth on one member having abrupt faces to form a cutting edge, said abrupt faces facing in an opposite direction to the similarly shaped teeth on the other member and the teeth on each memher being staggered with reference to each other. I

2. In a machine of the type set forth, two conically shaped cracking members arranged one within the other and spaced apart to form an annular chamber, teeth projecting into said annular chamber, said teeth being formed with an abrupt face forming a cutting edge and terminating in an inclined face, the abrupt faces of the teeth on one cracking member facing in a direction opposite to those of the other cracking member, whereby the nuts may be caught between the abrupt faces of the teeth on the copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the two cracking members to rip the shells from the meats of the nuts.

3. The method of removing shells from nuts having comparatively tough shells which consists of gravitating the nuts in a spiral path and during their travel sub jecting them repeatedly to a ripping action simultaneously on opposite sides, whereby the shells will be sheared or ripped and the meats freed therefrom.

4. In a machine of the type set forth, two conically shaped cracking members arranged one within the other and spaced apart to form an annular chamber, the outer cracking member being mounted so as to be yieldable radially, teeth projecting into said annular chamber, said teeth being formed with an abrupt face forming a cutting edge and terminating in an inclined face, the abrupt faces of the teeth on one cracking member facing in a direction opposite to those of the other cracking member, whereby the nuts may be caught between the abrupt faces of the teeth on the two cracking members to rip the shells from the meats of the nuts.

5. In an apparatus for shelling nuts of the character set forth, the combination of a pair of shelling members arranged one within the other, and means for rotating the inner member with respect to the other, the outer member being mounted so as to be yieldable radially, the two members being spaced apart to form an annular chamber between them and the opposing faces of these members being each provided with a multiplicity of cutting teeth extending into the chamber a distance sufficient only to rip the shells from the meats of the nuts, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

FANNIE SCI-IUTZ SPITZ.

Witnesses:

' MARY LOFTUS, W. W. APGAR.

Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

